Blood Potency
The soldier rose as the Reeve approached him – inclining his head in a polite and respectful manner, despite the sudden climbing claws of the beast inside him latching onto his ramrod-straight back at the use of the word mister. He knew, some part of him, that as an unaligned there was no expectation for her to use the correct form of address, if she even knew it, and yet she knew he was a soldier. Still, it was not the first time he’d been sought for employment as a soldier from the Reeve of a Domain and if this was an inroad into establishing himself in said domain.. well, he was resilient if nothing else.
“Reeve,” he intoned gravely. “We are well met.”
As she shot him an apologetic glance, the flaming claws of his beast along his skin lessened; such was the nature of a role like hers. The work was ever present and would always continue – in a way, he understood that idea wholly, and a non-verbal apology for the misstep and the demands of introduction was an apology none the less.
Each of them in turn gets a nod of greeting, though he managed to catch the implication of her introduction. Quite the busy kindred, he mused, managing the Reeve’s office and such a possibly fractious set of clanmates.
Mister again, some part of him noted, and the saner aspects of his mind rallied. Unbidden, a memory flooded into his mind – something from Henry’s Court, though he couldn’t tell if it was before his embrace or not; some half remembered saying about introductions and titles and rank. That quality was shown, not told – and if his pride rankled at such a low address from those outside the First Estate, that simply meant it would be time to show that quality.
“It has,” he agreed. “I have found the Prince’s domain to be a bastion of the First Estate and a welcoming new home. Have you been here long? I am finding there are many more faces this court than there was at the first I attended.”
He felt, more than saw, the Prince enter and turned on heel in perfect soldier’s timing, lowering himself into a bow. The soldier, as he always did in those moments, drew mental sword and shield against the beast and other vagaries of his mind as they spun every wicked thought into dark blades of their own. Others might count the breaths of time they remained bowed out of the sheer form of the thing, but for him it was almost a ritual, as much as any other magic he might know, to remain bowed to one greater within the Estate and a greater predator even as his pride and beast sharpened knives of bitter reproach. He rose, slowly, as he felt those bitter knives recede and, if nothing else, he knew he’d won out for another night.
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Status
Intelligence
Status, Allies
Blood Potency(+1)
